This post is a suggestion for developers concerning Fencer class. This is by no means something that I want IMC doing ASAP, but I would want to ask @STAFF_Ines @STAFF_Letitia @STAFF_Amy @STAFF_Han @STAFF_Ethan @STAFF_Yuri or whoever has connection with the Devs and is reading this to send the suggestions below to the developers or whoever decides this things.
What makes me want to organize and share my ideas is because there are things that I asked one time on the forums that Matador now has, and this either mean:
1 - You read what I wrote (and maybe what some other people said as well) and used some of the suggestions;
or
2 - I coincidentally said some things that you also thought of using, which can be interpreted that we are on the same path (this one seems more probable)
With that said, here goes nothing!
So, Fencer has some problems, like any other class. And why would I focus on this specific class and not on the others? Well, actually what I will say will be a good idea for all classes on the sword tree, as Fencer is a mix of damage and tanking, and he has problems on both areas, being either too weak on what he needs or too strong on what he does not need.
I will adress two topics here
A)The ideal of what Fencing should be on a RPG
Fencing is a scientific method of fighting with a sword. Camillo Agrippa was a very important name as he created what we would call Fencing today. His idea was to apply Geometry in order to achieve the best way to fight with a sword, considering which positions were the best, like putting the blade in front and not behind your body.
The thing is, Fencing is strategic combat, with the core idea being to outwit your opponent, dealing the highest damage possible with maximum efficiency: like hitting vital points. Fencing is also about parrying and counter attacking. Fencer is also footwork and some might say that this is the most basic of all. And last, Fencing is disabling the target, making it incapable of retaliating.
B)What can be done in practical terms.
First, I would like to say that Fencer on Granado Espada has some things that could be used very nicely, namely the stances, like you’re doing with Bullet Marker and Muay Thai. I will explain how that could be applied for Fencer.
- Changing offensive low CD skills to stances.
There are two skills on Fencer kit, Attaque Composee and Flanconnade , each with different effects and damage types. My idea is to make those stances instead of active skills, where they would modify the basic attack animation and give their effects plus Rapier Aggression damage increase.
This would make those skills similar to what they were before when they were 0 CD, but giving auto attack building options for Fencer. The stance obviously would use different % for its damages and in the case of Composee, give a bonus critical rate/chance or reducing critical resistance. Balance could be with SP per hit.
This would create such scenario:
Composee is an offensive stance, doing double basic attacks.
Flanconnade would be a defensive stance, blocking incoming damage with basic attacks (could be a block activation with preparation values, as sure block could be something unbalanced). This stance would not increase damage in any way.
- Preparation
This is already a very strong skill, but could use a different approach: Make it having no cooldown, and make it by dealing an 100% critical chance hit if attacked. It would be like Muleta from Matador, but with no duration and with the intent of being spammable. The block part could be changed to an effect similar to Murmillo helmet (make it a circle3 attribute) or make it an iframe (reduce the channel duration to be timming based and increase SP cost or make it have 5 uses).
- Epee Garde
Now we take all the damage that was removed from other skills and put it in this buff, kinda like making it was before. Each point of Epee increases Critical Damage by 50% + LV*X would be enough.
- Dodge skills
The dodge tank options, Lunge and Esquive Touché. Lunge I would say it is a fine skill as it is, but it could have a longer duration, maybe balancing the amount of evasion rate.
Esquive is the problem here. I believe it could be just like Backslide is now, 100% evasion chance. The ideal would be an iframe like Paso Doble, but then we would need to remove the iframe possibility for Preparation
- PvP tools
The main problem of Swordsman on PvP, mainly Fencer with its short range, is hitting the target. And here comes Balestra Fente, which could be like it is, a dashing skill, however, locked to a target, much like Zealot does with Beady Eyed. The debuff could either stay or be moved to Composee stance. You could also decrease damage as this skill will be a means of doing your damage, not a damage by itself.
And the final touch: remove the attribute enhance of Attaque au Fer and put it on Flash.
Also, most of what I said here could be used with other classes like the stances for Swordsman1. I could make a topic specific for each class if this prove to be successful.